Morality and Love
by Angelos Theinus
Summary: In this AU short story based on X-Men: Evolution you meet two mutants, Paul and Nick. They got through various points in thier lives, remembering how their relationship has been. It mainly deals with morality and how it effects romantic relationships.


Once upon a time there was a boy,  
  
And there was his man.  
  
A tall lanky fellow sprinted through the woods just outside the manor, loosing his way as he remembered what had happened in the last few days.  
  
~  
  
They were happy,  
  
And then the man learned of morality.  
  
A tall child-man, for other better descriptor other than teenager, sat down at a far table during lunch. He had dark, dark hair that look almost black but not, except for the gray that seemed to be in every other hair on his crew cut head. He wore casual clothes, almost uber-casual, blue jeans with a black t-shirt and a button-up gray t-shirt made of a heavy cotton-polyester mix that looked almost like wool-lite and kept him just as warm. He seemed to be about seventeen or eighteen years old, he was in fact nineteen, two years on the run without schooling can hold you back. But he was a senior with a bright future ahead of him.  
  
For a mutant that is.  
  
Another child moved towards him, this one had light-brown hair and was about six feet tall, standing at five foot ten or eleven. The tall one stood up to reveal his full stature of six and a half feet tall, his arms opened and he hugged the other with a quick kiss that seemed to denote hidden passions on both their parts, passions they may know of but denied.  
  
At least, the taller one denied, "Hey, Mr. Honey, what's new?" The shorter one asked, apparently the older one did not like the nickname, at least on the outside.  
  
"I'm fine, Paul. I was wondering what you wanted me to get you for your fifteenth birthday, it is coming up in two days." The taller one asked the shorter, and apparently far younger, one. The taller one's leg and foot seemed to stray without him noticing it, or wanting to, and rubbing against the other's leg.  
  
"Well I would like to have a nice day with you, just the two of us. That would be nice, Nick." Paul said with a dreamy sigh, becoming more comfortable by passing moment with Nick. To some it would seem as if they were a couple, which they almost were, to other's it would seem they were engaged, to others they would only think them two fags, and others would not know what to make of them.  
  
Heads or tails.  
  
~  
  
He was too old for the boy,  
  
And then when he explained;  
  
Nick seemed to dodge tree roots and limbs with an uncanny grace, he could see patterns and the possibilities led to them, the most likely ones but he could see them all. He could tell where very obstruction was without thinking about it, just naturally dodging and ducking under them. But when it involved humans he sometimes could not see the possibilities…  
  
~  
  
The boy lashed out in anger,  
  
And the man recoiled,  
  
Paul hung onto the taller boy's arm after he had smoked Scott at pool once again, he always seemed to think that he had a chance, if only he hit the very right balls at the very rightest angle at the perfect moment…But he never did, and that was sad.  
  
The taller boy looked down at the one who looked older, but who was not by about 4 and a half years, with an intense affection that seemed to be poorly masked love. The smaller male nuzzled into the taller's arm with love and protective instincts. Then Kurt, the perpetual straight man, appeared behind the two of them, "Are you two together yet? I keep on seeing you two together like this, the curiosity is eating me alive."  
  
Nick gave a long sigh of exasperation, "Kurt, how many times do we have to go over this, Paul and I are not together." He shook his head and saw the laser-eyed wonder hide a chuckle.  
  
"What?" The giant-like, height-wise anyways, one asked sharply, glaring at Scott.  
  
"It's just that you two look good together, I'm sure Kurt agrees. Don't you Kurt?" Laser beam eyes asked the teleporting blue furry mutant who possessed a nice, long tail.  
  
"Of course they do!" The teleporter agreed with Scott in a enthusiastic sort of way that made Nick want to puke. He could not really handle people who were always so… Cheerful, although he did make exceptions for Paul. Without thinking about it he threw his pool stick forward, it landed with a thud on the right place in the rack. "I'll be going now, but before I go, tell me how is your relationship with Jean? Is she seeing that jock guy that always pushes you around?"  
  
Kurt's eyes widened and you could clearly see him debating whether or not to let Scott tear Nick limb from limb or stay there and try to save the sarcastic tall man. Apparently he decided on the latter, not wanting to be called an accessory to murder. He seemed to know that the relationship with Nick and Paul was a sore spot between them, and that Scott was asking for it when he brought it up.  
  
The two of them, who were a couple but not, left the room, because it was the more affectionate one's birthday and the taller one always tried to keep his promises.  
  
~  
  
The boy cried himself to sleep,  
  
And the older drank himself asleep.  
  
The runner stopped for a moment to catch his ragged breath, to feel his adrenaline. He fell to the ground crying at the moral indignation and pain he caused himself. He felt Professor X tugging at his mind, trying to tell him to go back.  
  
We can talk through this, Nick. It's not like you did anything wrong, I'm sure this can all be smoothed over. The Professor communicated to him telepathically.  
  
The teenager's only response was this, "Fuck you, Xavier!" Birds screeched at his scream, it penetrated the otherwise quiet atmosphere like thunder blasts through the night.  
  
~  
  
They never did talk,  
  
They never did talk again.  
  
He found himself in a clearing at a clear night with Paul sidled up next to him, they were watching the stars and they had already put in their Yule Log for the night. There was a tent back behind them a few feet away in case it rained but they planned to sleep outside tonight.  
  
"What's your favorite part of the milky way?" Nick was asked by the very spiritual Wiccan, Paul. His hand waved in a gesture at the sky.  
  
"I like it all, I what it represents," He responded to Paul, copying the gesture that his good… Friend had made at the night sky.  
  
"Really?" Paul rhetorically questioned, moving closer to the taller teen.  
  
The taller one ignored the rhetorical aspect of the question, answering, "I like how it's like a life of chaos that created order and -" He was cut off with a kiss from Paul.  
  
And after that kiss stopped, and Nick got a breath, the two of them made love.  
  
~  
  
The boy mourned and looked for rope,  
  
The man mourned and eyed a blade.  
  
That's no way to talk to me, I know what you've been through. I know it conflicts with your morals, we've been over this again and again. Why don't you just go back to the manor and we'll talk all of this over. Xavier thought to Nick, trying to sooth him, trying to make him come back and make things better. He knew that Nick loved Paul, and that's what there was to it. But whenever he talked to Nick he knew there was something… Deeper than just morals, something that had been so blocked off and fortified that even he, the most powerful telepath among mutants, could not break through. Well, not without hurting Nick, and Nick did not exactly want to know what it was.  
  
"It's what you want isn't it? You want me to go back and make everything okay! Well you… Can't! So do what I do, deal with it!" The tall teenager screamed up at the trees, pheromones were released and his rage was evident. The birds could smell it, the wolves could smell it, the rabbits could smell it, all the animals of the forest could smell his pheromones. They had never felt anything so very… Powerful. It made them so afraid that it was like when the tractor would come for the rabbits, the wolves howled in grief and ran their way, the birds screeched and reeled in the air from a pain that they could not understand, the forest was full of scared animals. And Xavier was overwhelmed as well.  
  
He was frightened of what, or rather who, could bring along such an emotional response, that released pheromones so powerful that it frightened the animals away. Frightened them so badly that they were all afraid and with an emotion they had never known before, save the canines, and this emotion was grief. And the emotion was also rage, a rage so intense it defies words, it only is an amalgamated maelstrom of emotions that threatened to tear open his mind. Finally Xavier thought of the empathic students and let out a mental groan, they would be in hell as long Nick was. It was time to put up some stronger shields around them.  
  
The teenage mutant started to think back to how he met Paul, years and years ago.  
  
~  
  
Boy learned how to make a noose,  
  
Man learned the right way to slit his wrists.  
  
Nick looked around himself at this new school, strange how he had finally found acceptance. But it was still strange, still very strange that he had suddenly been found and accepted. The "Professor" as they called him had found him and sent another mutant to get him, she called herself "Storm". She had literally picked him up off the streets, at that point the boy had been so malnourished he did not know what was going on, or really care.  
  
The fourteen year-old, who was going to soon turn fifteen, looked around himself. He was in the middle of a big garden, and the mocha skinned woman Storm was next to him. "I'll get someone to show you around." She said to the younger one as she swept her eyes over the people there, and there was a young one there, she gave him a look that seemed to mean something to him and he sprinted to us.  
  
"Hi, Storm. Who's he?" The child asked, he must have been eleven years old at least, maybe twelve.  
  
"This is Nick. Nick, this is Paul." She introduced us.  
  
The two of them seemed to have good manners, Paul and Nick shook hands, did the usual ritual one does when being introduced. And then Storm continued, "Paul will show you around for a few days, until you know where everything is." At the end of this she walked off prideful, knowing in full self-confidence that she was a good person, or that she could do anything she wanted to, it was that kind of pride.  
  
"Well, this Xavier's Institute for the Gifted. You see everything as it is, you take some classes here, and others at the high school. Mainly this is like a boarding when you think about it, but it's a special kind. Because not only do you go to a private school you also go to a public one." The younger explained, his hand waving expansively over the mansion and courtyard.  
  
"Really. So basically this is a training ground for mutants, to help them control," He added parentheses to this with his fingers then continued, "their powers? I really don't buy it." He finished cynically.  
  
"Well, give it a chance." The smaller said to the taller, shrugging slightly, walking forward. He wondered about the older child, wondering why he was so cynical, so he asked.  
  
"I don't know, maybe it's because I'm a Snake, maybe it's my mom's fault, maybe the Devil made me so." He responded sarcastically, rolling his eyes.  
  
"You're pretty funny for a cynic," The shorter one told him with a laugh, the look of puzzlement on Nick's face grew then shrunk into laughter. He patted the other boy on the back and smiled, maybe it would not be so bad, maybe it would be okay.  
  
They never got to talk again,  
  
They never got to talk again. 


End file.
